Friday, January 12, 2007

Under the headline "A passion for Freemasonry's Traditions," the Baltimore Sun announces tonight's booksigning by W. Bro. Brent Morris's of his magnum opus, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry." You gotta laugh.

What are some of the traditions Morris mentions?

Freemasonry is a social organization and a gentlemen's club, Morris told a reporter. "Freemasonry appeals to men who want to have fellowship with other men with high ethical and moral values, and who acknowledge the importance of God in their lives."

Becoming a Mason "becomes a shared experience," Morris said. "But it's an experience that I have shared with George Washington, with Robert Burns, with Bob Evans.... It's a brief asylum from the outside world.... A lodge meeting is very relaxing.... Some members come for the pie and conversation after the meetings."

"And now we can watch NASCAR races and drink beer while we eat our pie," he might have added, but didn't, at least not publicly.

While the mere association with alcohol, even working at a store that sells alcohol, once in some jurisdictions of American Masonry would get you brought up on charges of unmasonic conduct, Morris's Scottish Rite organization has apparently sold (actually, paid for) the "rights" to use commercially not only the Scottish Rite's Double Eagle symbol but the Masonic Square and Compasses and the Shriners' logo to Frank Cicci's Busch Racing Team. You'll find these three symbols cozied up next to the Busch (beer) Racing logo on the Frank Cicci (owner of the racing team) website.

complete idiots and dummy's are now who we market to. I guess if you continue to fill the ranks with complete idiots and dummies, the sheeple members will be easier to control and questions about the status quo and why it is so poor morally and brotherly won't be asked of them.Complete idiots and dummies can be easily led away from light and truth.

Amen to marketing guru's.. New slogan for freemasonry..." If you are a complete idiot or a dummy, you can join freemasonry and become a 32 degree schmoe in one day! And a shriner if so inclined......All at the discount price of $150.00 clams. Then we will pressure your blue lodge not to raise its dues so you can afford all the different groups you get sucked into. So, can't memorize, can't sacrifice time, too busy, then freemasonry is just for you! We are looking for the many who can't sacrifice or memorize, like all brothers and fellows have done before, so get off your ass and join up and become a part of the best and oldest fraternity in the world.In one day of course....earn nothing, strive for multi colored aprons and funny hats, all have a price, monetary of course, not hard works and dedication. So all you lazy asses get up and attend your next states one day class! See ya at a temple soon!"

I love it....where do we get petitions? In the back of the dummy books?

Brent Morris and the Scottish Riters are destroying what is left of American Freemasonry. Dummies and idiots the wave of the future. From Pike, Mackey and Hall to Gordon, Earnheart and Morris! R.I.P. ye old dead system.

Modern Accepted Free-Masons are alive and well! As the old system accusses us of being bogus, fake, illregular and not recognized they have lower their standards who will survive?? I'll give you a hintlisten hear the SR temple collasping???

"Dummies" and "Idiot's" books have proven themselves to be fantastic introductions to many subjects. Oringally known for their easy-going and easy-to-understand language for computer newbies, they now cover a very wide range of topics, and can boast some very excellent authors and other contributors.

Yes, some people still get their hackles up at the titles. Nobody wants to be considered a "Dummy", nor does anyone want to be associated with "Idiots". But those are simply the the title of the series; as much as I like Bros. Hodapp and Morris, I don't think that any book of thers would sell half as well if published another way. Sorry, Chris, but the "Dummies" series guarantees a market.

TC, instead of complaining about the titles of the books, how about looking at what they are: a great introduction to the Fraternity, well-written, interesting, and capable of generating interest among good men who might otherwise not have given it much thought.

One more thing:Personally, I'm not crazy about how the Shrine and SR tend to suck the membership out of the blue lodges. A while back I was bitching about it to a member of another jurisdiction, and he asked me a very good question. "What is it that those members get out of the Shrine that they do not get from the Blue Lodge? If you want to keep the members from leaving, then find out what that is, and provide it at the lodge level."

Now that I'm "retired" I might join one of the other bodies just to see what they've got that's so interesting so I can bring it back. It's time to stop complaining and figure out what to do about the problem.

We have come from the great Magnum Opus of Albert Pike to the magnum opus of the book of idiots and dummies.

Morris and the Scottish Rite are dangerous to Free-Masonry and they are re-inventing a corporate McMasonry that is part of the final solution whose aim is to kill Masonry as we know it and re-invent it as the SCOTTISH RITE.

My fault, I thought that the men we want in our temples were supposed to be men feeling an urge for truth and light. Not idiots and dummies.....

It was idiots and dummies that I ran into allready within the ranks of this fraternity, so with memberships dwindling, we need to refill the ranks with more idiots and dummies?

we are feeling those repercussions now and trying stop the bleeding...

Calling all idiots and dummies: check with your local masonic group to find out when you can become a 32 degree mason in a day!Come one come all, if you can breath and not be a felon, we want soooo bad, we will usher you in in one day!

Frankly, I'm less than impressed by cheap potshots from bellyachers over introductory books that truthfully present the fraternity to new generations of men who don't know what Freemasonry is or where to start looking.

If you had bothered to read either book you'd know they are not about sloganeering or NASCAR sponsorships or promoting one day classes or any of the other "marketing" items that rattle your cage. Both books present the fraternity in a truthful, simple manner, to a public that currently has no idea what Freemasonry is.

What really annoys me is when some internet "Mason" gets on his holier than thou high horse and starts carping about "Dummies" and "Idiots." If a Grand Lodge had published either one of those books, put a plain gray cover on it with a Grand Lodge stamp, and passed it out to new members, you guys would be applauding them from the rooftops for having vision and a firm commitment to Masonic education.

So apart from posting your gripes out here in the ether, what have you done to help the fraternity, I mean other than bitching and moaning that it's not to your liking?

Are you one of these endless internet Masons who didn't like things as they were and walked away?

Did you step up and get on a Grand Lodge committee and force things to change, even in a small way?

Did you make friends with a Grand Master and get him to grant you dispensation to try something new?

Did you introduce new legislation to change what you didn't like? And keep on introducing it year after year until it does change?

Did you take an active part and offer up alternatives to the GL marketing proposals you were offended by?

Did you bring in new men who were willing to work hard along side you and make your lodge a shining example to the rest of the Masonic world?

Did you work every day to make a difference in the fraternity, not taking "no" for an answer?

Or did you just post another bitchy blog entry?

Yeah, that Crowley avatar is perfect - a grumpy, bitchy, spoiled man, ruled by his own selfishness, who never could seem to live within the system without wrecking it and walking away to the next thrill.

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